Mark Lenz: Beer-making returning to Adrian

Once upon 1904, a four-story beer brewery overlooked Adrian. It stood at the corner of Springbrook and Maple avenues. The brewery could produce 25,000 barrels of beer a year.

In those days, beer was a common drink and buying it was an almost daily ritual since no one had refrigeration. Springbrook Brewing Co.’s construction had been contracted to a Toledo company for about $15,000, according to the Dec. 10, 1903, Daily Telegram. It stood on the same site as a predecessor, the Adrian City Brewery, whose bottles were stamped “Pure & without drugs or poisons.”

Then came 1910. Lenawee County, which had 65 saloons, voted to go “dry,” followed by the demise of local commercial brewing and the long, national Prohibition a few years later. Once a nation with thousands of breweries, America had only 44 in 1979.

Now, a century after Springbrook, Lenawee beer is making a comeback.

A group of about 15 brewing enthusiasts from Adrian and Ohio gathered at three tables Monday at Sauce Italian Grill & Pub. They swapped stories, offered tips and showed support for craft beer’s happy tidal wave across America, which now has a record 2,751 breweries operating. While U.S. beer sales overall were down 1.3 percent last year, craft beer sales were up 13 percent.

Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Holland and Ann Arbor have produced a dizzying variety of brews for years. Adrian attracted visitors from as far as Detroit with its first Brews and Blues Festival in October. Local interest now is, well, bubbling.

Among those present were Brett and Krista Cotton of Adrian’s Cotton Brewing Co. After long waits for state and federal bottling approval, the couple’s Maple City Ale and other varieties will soon be available. They’ve reached agreement to have their beer sold at Sauce, The Grasshopper and the soon-to-open Hooligan’s Grill, according to Brett Cotton.

“We’re more interested in having a wholesale distributor than a tasting room,” he added.

Complicating that was the fact that Lenawee County didn’t have a distributor. Cotton said he was able to find someone interested in starting one.

Another Lenawee County-based brewing project is John and Denise Burtka’s Cherry Creek Old Schoolhouse Brewery & Winery in the Irish Hills. Although the Burtkas’ beers are presently available only at their Bad Bear Brewery in Parma Township, they do sell them locally in the summer.

“Typically, we’ll have six on tap out at Cherry Creek,” John Burkta said of the summer sales. “Just like with wine, people want to buy something local.”

The Burktas are preparing for their St. Patrick’s Day weekend opening of a new brewery in downtown Jackson. Called Grand River Marketplace, John Burkta said it will be a large brewery and winery operation located in Jackson’s old Kuhl’s Bell Tower Market.

Also, just outside Lenawee County, is Milan’s Original Gravity Brewing Company.

Yet microbreweries and craft brews are only part of the story. Monday’s gathering focused on homebrewers, brought together by local resident Steve Breitenbach to start a homebrew club. Most begin with extract kits that make 2- to 5-gallon batches. Some brewers advance to specialized equipment and even mill their own grain. Scott Miller of Jasper began growing his own hops five years ago to make extra-hoppy India pale ale (IPA) beers.

Stephanie Schneider of Adrian talked about having been someone whose beer palate up until last February had consisted of Coors Light and Bud Light. When Breitenbach, a co-worker, offered her a bottle of homebrewed beer, she said she “declared it was awful” and couldn’t drink the whole bottle.

After hearing more about the brewing process, though, she tried some more.

“By June I was trying all kinds of beer I’d never had before,” she recounted. “Steve kept telling me to not be afraid of the darks, so I ventured to the stouts and porters and fell in love with them. By August, I was buying my first kit from Northern Brewer. I planned a brew day at my house and made a porter. I had a blast and got past the smell and learned to take note in what I was smelling: barley, malt, hops.”

In September, Schneider brewed a Kolsch. In October, she had made hard cider. Last month, she made a hoppy, red ale.

“This month I plan on brewing a Black IPA. I love the feeling you get when you make something and have people try it and give their opinion,” she said, adding that an Adrian brewers guild will help people share ideas and opinions. The group has an email account set up at adrianbrewersguild@gmail.com.

Beer may not be for everyone, but the process of converting grains into a quality brew is one of mankind’s oldest productions. Byproducts have included Louis Pasteur’s discovery of germs, along with commercial refrigeration and mass bottling technology. Seeing local residents’ skill and passion pay off — even in a “nanobrew” way — is worth a toast.

Mark Lenz, editor of The Daily Telegram, can be contacted at 265-5111, ext. 230, or via email at mlenz@lenconnect.com.